Patriotic Danger
David Striker (Masa Gibson) is a highly trained government assassin who until now has managed to keep his private life separate from his work. When his girlfriend is murdered in cold blood he suddenly finds himself at the other end of the barrel, and must enlist the help of an old friend (Katie Jones).
With mysterious pursuers hot on his trail and treachery and betrayal at every turn Striker has to figure out who wants him dead before it's too late. Directed by Matthew Shea, Patriotic Danger features a diverse cast including Masa Gibson, Katie Jones, Gary Voegele, George Wilhelm, John Bennett, and Michael Kallgren. With great characters, plot twists, and high impact weaponry, this independent film is a unique mix of drama and action.
Director's Statement
A longtime fan of action packed movies from the 80's, I decided to try my hand at making an action flick myself - one with an exciting story and tons of on screen action. When the reality of an extremely limited budget set in, I knew the movie would have to feature action sequences in a unique way - a way that would treat them as the spice of the movie, rather than the main course. As a result, "Patriotic Danger's" low budget doesn't let a lack of money influence the intensity or excitement of the action sequences - rather, they are peppered throughout in an appropriate and strategic manner. Far from being restrictive, this change in outlook allowed the story to develop into a much more dramatic, character driven movie - while maintaining plenty of powerful battle sequences critical to the action genre.
With the experience of having directed a series of short films and produced two television shows for ICTV over the previous 3 years, I set out with a loose goal of writing a 90 page script. I began with a collection of assorted ideas, created a general outline, and finally started writing the script itself. Many rewrites later I had a 68 page script (a few more pages would later get knocked off during production), and felt the story had been told. I didn't want to pad it out with unnecessary filler, so I left it at that length and went forward, with a new target length for the project of approximately one hour.
"Patriotic Danger" as it exists in its final form is 54 minutes long, and represents an entire year spent writing, producing, directing, and editing the movie, while simultaneously attending 2 full semesters of college classes. It includes the work of over 20 actors, and wouldn't have been possible without the generosity of everyone involved. Produced and financed completely independently from beginning to end , "Patriotic Danger" strives to outshine the competition by demonstrating that a little can indeed go a long way.
I hope you enjoy,
Matthew Shea
